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10 June 2003

DES BROWNE OPENS £1.3M JOBS AND BENEFITS OFFICE IN PORTADOWN

Portadown is the latest centre to benefit from investment in a modernised and dynamic welfare system, Des Browne MP, the Minister with responsibility for Social Development, said today.

He was speaking at the official opening of the new Jobs and Benefit Office at Jervis Street in Portadown, the result of a £1.3m investment. The new accommodation brings together the services of the Social Security Agency and the Department for Employment and Learning in the one place to help unemployed people into work.

So far 11 of the new integrated offices have opened and over the next few years a total of 35 will be introduced across Northern Ireland. The Minister said:

"Jobs and Benefits is part of an ambitious programme of reform, a programme which is probably the biggest of its kind in the public sector in Northern Ireland. What you see here today in Portadown is impressive in terms of the accommodation itself but we are particularly proud of the new service that we are providing to the local community.

"It’s encouraging to see that Jobs and Benefits is already showing real results in getting people into work and also transforming the relationships between customers and staff. I believe that if you treat people with dignity and respect and have a positive approach they will respond positively.

"This service is at the very forefront of our reform programme providing a real step change in the social welfare system, a system which encourages people into work, provides security for those who can’t work and puts this organisation at the leading edge of service delivery."

Earlier Des Browne was welcomed to the Jervis Street office by the office managers David Doyle and Nuala Devlin.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. There are 80 staff in the Portadown Jobs and Benefits Office from both the Social Security Agency and the Department for Employment and Learning.

  2. The new office is located at 140 Jervis Street, Portadown, Telephone 028 3839 7200.

  3. The office has almost 4,000 customers including 500 jobseekers.

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